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The Family Physician: Take
Take friar's balsam and tincture of myrrh, of each one ounce, spirits of turpentine two ounces, and good old strong ale dregs three ounces; mix all of them well together, and bathe the afflicted part of the body with the same. A remedy for a strain, &c.
Take the oil of swallows, the oil of peter, and the oil of turpentine, of each an equal quantity, mix them well together, and anoint the part afflicted with the same.
Remedy for the asthma and shortness of breath.
Take of the milk of gum ammoniac six ounces, syrup of squills four ounces and a half: mix them together.
This promotes expectoration in a very great degree, and relieves those who are short-winded. It is justly esteemed for its serviceable properties in asthmatic cases, by rarefying and thinning viscid cohesions in the pulmonary vessels. A spoonful is to be taken four or five times every day, and in particular every morning.
An Essence for the Head-ach.
Head-aches are sometimes caused from an obnoxious vapour ascending out of the stomach, which in this case must be cleansed by proper remedies; but for common head-aches, take of French brandy, or rectified spirit of wine, one quart; put it into a strong bottle, and add one ounce of camphire, cut small, a quarter of an ounce of the essence of lemon, and two ounces of the strongest volatile spirit of sal ammoniac; stop the bottle quite close, and shake it three or four times a day, for a week.
The method of using it is, to rub the hand with a little of it, and hold it hard upon the part afflicted, until it is dry. If the pain is not quite relieved, repeat it till it is.
Compound Tincture of Senna, commonly called Daffy's Elixir. Take of the best senna two ounces, jalap, coriander seeds, and cream of tartar, of each one ounce; coarse sugar three quartars of a pound; of brandy three pints. Let them stand, all thus mixed together, for ten or twelve days, then strain off what is fine for use.
This is an agreeable purge, and nothing can be more useful than always to keep it ready made in your houses for family use.
Godfrey's Cordial.
Take seven gallons of water; raspings of sassafras and aniseeds, of each four pounds; powder of carraway seeds, eight ounces; opium six ounces; coarse sugar, fifteen pounds; boil them all together, till one half of the liquor be evaporated; strain it through a coarse bag or cloth, and then add three gallons of the spirit of wine rectified.
If you wish to make any less quantity, you must proportion the same by the above-mentioned standard, and then you may make any quantity you please. Stoughton's Bitters.
Take gentian root, two ounces, dried orange peel, two ounces and a half, cochineal, inpowder, half a drachm, proof spirit, or brandy, two pounds; let them stand ten or twelve days, and decant off what is clear for use. Friar's Balsam, commonly called Turlington's Balsam of Life: the true and best method of making it.
Take gum Benjamin twelve ounces, gum storax eight ounces, balsam of Tolu (or Peru) four ounces, succotrine aloes two ounces, rectified spirits of wine five quarts and a pint. - Let them stand to digest twelve or fourteen days; then decant for use.
Pills for giddiness, palsy, head-ache, &c.
Take native cinnabar levigated two drachms, castor and salt of amber, of each one drachm, oil of marjoram fifteen drops, balsam of Peru one dram, syrup of piony a sufficient quantity to make a mass; and from every drachm of it cut off nine pills. The dose is three of them to be taken three times each day. Remedy for the hooping or chin-cough.
Take flour of Benjamin, and strained opium, of each two drachms, camphire two scruples, essential oil of anniseeds half a drachm, rectified spirits of wine one quart, four ounces of powdered liquorice, and four ounces of honey; then digest and strain off the elixir.
Another remedy for the same disease.
Take of the musk julep six ounces, paregoric elixir half an ounce, volatile tincture of valerian one drachm; mix them, and take two spoonfuls three or four times every day.
Take milk of gum ammoniac, and of small cinnamon water, of each two ounces; tincture of castor two drachms, syrup of balsam half a drachm; mix them and administer one spoonful presently after.
Towards the decline of the disease, a decoction of the bark in full doses may be prescribed to advantage.
These medicines may also be taken with success in any other old, dry, bad, obstinate cough whatsoever.
How to cure warts.
Go into the field and take a black snail, and rub them with the same nine times one way, and then nine times another, and then stick that said snail upon a black thorn, and the warts will waste. I have also known a black snail cure corns, being laid thereon as a plaster. If you have what is called blood or bleeding warts, then take a piece of raw beef, that never had any salt, and rub them with the same, just in the same manner as you used the snail above mentioned; after this operation is performed, you must bury the piece of beef in the earth.
For the falling down of the almonds of the ears.
Mix a little bole ammoniac in powder, with some Venice turpentine; spread it on sheep's leather as broad as a stay, and then apply the same under the throat from ear to ear.
A remedy for St. Anthony's fire.
Take a common purge, and then anoint the part afflicted with the marrow of mutton.
For an ague.
Drink the decoction of camomile, well sweetened with treacle. Take it when you are warm in bed, and sweat two hours.
A cure for an asthma or shortness of breath.
Take a quart of aquae vitae, one ounce of anniseeds bruised, one ounce of liquorice sliced; half a pound of raisins stoned; then let them all steep ten days in the aquae vitae, being well covered up, after which time pour the same off into a bottle, then add two table spoonfuls of fine sugar, to the same, and stop it very close for use.
For a bruise or scald outwardly.
Take one quart of neatsfoot oil, half a pound of red lead, two ounces of bees' wax; boil all these things together three hours, during which time you must stir them well; then add to the same one ounce of the oil of elder, let it cool for use, and bathe the part afflicted with the same. For a bruise inwardly.
Drink a strong decoction of comfrey, with bread and butter. A cure for piles or sores.
Eat rosemary and sage with bread and butter, and apply wheat flour and honey, by way of plaster.
For a cancer in the mouth, or a sore mouth.
Take the juice of plantain, and rose-water mixed with the same, and frequently wash your mouth; and if your gums are sore, take gun-powder, roach alum, bole ammoniac, and honey, of each an equal quantity; mix them well together, and when you rub your gums with the same, let the rheum run out of your mouth. For the scurvy in the gums.
Make sage tea, and dissolve therein a little alum; dip a cloth therein and rub your gums with the same. If you wish to make your teeth white, mix a little burnt alum with six spoonfuls of honey, and two spoonfuls of the juice of celandine, and rub your teeth with the same.
For the heart-burn.
The salts of tartar taken in a little water is a cure for the heart-burn. You may mix an equal quantity of magnesia with the same if you please. For the black jaundice.
Take a handful of the long leaves that grow upon artichoke stalks, bruise and put them into a pot with three pints of ale; let the pot stand in a warm place, close covered up, for twelve hours, then take a small glass of this liquor, mixed with half a glass of white wine, for nine mornings together, fasting, and let a drachm of saffron be tied up in a small bit of cloth, and put in the pot amongst the same.
How to cure the yellow jaundice without medicine, or giving any thing to the patient whatsoever.
Take the patient's morning urine, and put the same into a bottle; and take a small piece of saffron, and tie it up in a fine piece of muslin, and put the same in the bottle amongst the said urine; and only desire the patient wholly to abstain from drinking either milk or malt liquor for one month. Proved a great number of times.
This prescription alone is worth more money than the price of this book. How to help those whose courses are stopped.
Take two ounces of the grains of paradise, one ounce of long pepper, one ounce of turmeric, and two ounces of steel filings, all in powder; make it into an electuary with a little honey, and take about the size of a walnut night and morning: and two or three times in the course of the day take a wine glass full of the decoction of garden rue, wormwood, horehound, and nettles, for some days.
How to take away little red pimples from the face.
Take two ounces of lemon juice, two ounces of rose water, two drachms of silver suppliment, mix them into an ointment, and rub your face with the same at going to bed, and when you get up in the morning rub your face with fresh butter, and then rub the same clean off.
How to make balsam of life.
Take gum Benjamin one ounce, strained storax, balsam of Peru, balsam of Tolu, myrrh, olibanum, angelica root, St. John's wort flowers, each half an ounce; succotrine aloes, one scruple; put them all into a pint of the spirit of wine, and let them stand for a week before the fire, stir them once a day until all the gums are dissolved, then filter it off for use. This is an admirable medicine for a great number of diseases, and wonderfully strengthens the whole body, &c.
How to kill worms, or bot worms in the body.
Take half a glass of brandy, and put there-in as much fine sulphur as will lay on a shilling, and mix them together; then burn a bit of bread crust in the fire till it is black, chew the same in your mouth for about five minutes, after which put it out again, and then immediately take the above mentioned medicine early in the morning.
A remedy for a consumption, if taken in time.
Take one handful of horehound, and the same quantity of garden rue, with two pounds of coarse sugar; put these ingredients into two quarts of water, boil them all together until they are reduced to one quart, then take three large table spoonfuls of the same early in the morning fasting. An excellent remedy for a burn or scald.
Mix a little lapis caliminaris (which you get at the chemists) in a little snow water, and shake it well together. It doth wonderfully take the fire out of any burn, and you may make as much in the course of the winter as will serve all the year.
For a person that is subject to be costive in his body. Take cream of tartar, mixed with honey, very frequently. How to make excellent eye-water.
Take half a pint of the best brandy, two pints of spring water, and one ounce of the sugar of lead; mix these things together, and it is made. How to stop the bleeding of any wound, &c.
Take burnt leather powdered, bole in powder, dragon's blood in powder; mix some spirits of wine with all these said ingredients, and lay it thereon with soft fine lint.
Scotch Pills.